Customer Reviews

Diccionario español/inglés - inglés/español: Random House Latin-American Spanish

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Never failed me, not once, on two recent trips to Mexico and the D.R., but from it's size it is clear that is lacking many entries. Also, each entry could use a few more usage examples, especially for those countries whose Spanish is most widely varied from Castellano.

I bought this book thinking it would be useful for my work with Mexican Spanish. I was amazed to discover that my very tiny University of Chicago Spanish Dictionary was frequently superior, although that book does not claim to be specifically tailored to Latin American Spanish. On the whole I found this dictionary to be very disappointing, lacking many commonly used words in Mexico and other regions of Latin America, and very often insufficiently explicit regarding the countries and regions where non-standard or non-European variants are used. I really wondered how the book was written; my impression was that it was a rather old dictionary spruced up with a pretty cover, new typeface and the hasty addition of some regionalisms. It's also much heavier than the U Chicago Dictionary. Despite my every effort to like the book, I feel I wasted my money.

I've worked for nearly 6 years as an interpretor and 10 within the immigrant community w/trip to the DR, Venezuela, Costa Rica, and Nicaragua. This is a great dictionary for the backpack. There are obvious limitation based on its size. Its strongest when going from English to Spanish, largely b/c it offers alternatives to the generic stand in words. It has has a wide variety of medical and construction terminology (though hardly exhaustive). I translate primarily for Mexican, Guatemalan, Honduran, and Dominicans. I am very sorry this book has gone out of print.
Regarding those frustrated that it does not have enough Mexican spanish: 1.) I have yet to find a dictionary that addresses the myriad vocabulary of each Mexican state. Each state has a unqiue vocabulary that many other states do not understand. When I see a Mexican from Piedras Negras talking to someone from Jalisco I know there be a bount of confusion as to what means what.
2.) Mexico stands apart from the rest of Latin America. They are Mexican before they are Latin. The unique blend of Indian, Spanish, and German influences is what makes them Mexican. Their accent is different from Spanish to the point that even Guatemalan and Honduran have at times difficulty understanding them. This is a not an insult to Mexicans. Its simply to point out that they tend have an isolated vocabulary.